Chuseok is over and I can rest easily on my sofa at home again. I really hate the floor and couldn’t wait to get back in a chair. Seriously – I challenge any of you westerners reading this to try and do that. Just sit and sleep on the floor. Small cushions are allowable, but big-ass 6″ sofa style cushions aren’t. Try it. I’d give you 4 hours before giving up in disgust and wondering why you tried it in the first place.

After sitting and sleeping on the floor since Saturday evening, I decided on Monday afternoon to take the kids for a ride in the car. Ostensibly, this was to just see the sights and listen to some modern music (they dig my taste in tunes) and I used it to sit in a real chair for an hour. While we drove along the eastern coastline, I spun the iPod as fast as the wheels on the car. I’ve come to like some of the Korean pop stars, but hte youngsters also know Eminem, Britney Spears and oldies like the Fresh Prince. The kids sang along to the iPod while we drove north from the little fishing village where MyeongHee grew up along the coast to the next big city. Although it wasn’t very large, Goryongpo is a quaint, picturesque town with a bustling crabbing business. Nearly every restaurant boasted crabs and the port was filled with large crab boats. The town itself was nestled among the rocky shore and around a small peninsula. I wish I had brought my camera because it was very pretty, especially from the mountains heights as we drove in towards town. Instead, we inspected the crab boats and walked around the docks briefly. We found two boats named “Dong Hyun,” which MyegonHee’s son Dong Hyun found quite amusing.

Back at the in-laws, it was the same old Thanksgiving. Up at dawn, arrange the food beautifully on a short table, lets the spirits come eat, bow a few times and then put the food all away and eat something else. Afterwards, we visited the gravesite of MyeongHee’s father and had the same, albeit smaller, ceremony. It still is a little disconcerting to eat in a graveyard. Western and Eastern sensibilities are really different in that regard.

I was really feeling out of sorts this weekend. The first time I went there to meet her brothers, they gave me the once over and quizzed me on my intentions, etc. In other words, I was somewhat the center of attention. This year I was old news and they ignored me. Not their fault, since their English and my Korean is good enough only for simple pleasantries. It was Korean food, Korean talk, Korean TV,  Korean customs, minimal English and damn little western anything. Not that that was surprising – I’m in Korea. But at home we speak a good mix of English and Korean, we share watching TV programs in one or the other language and I can read English news on the internet. We also have chairs, a sofa and a real bed. I guess the moral of this story is that while I like it here in Korea, no one should have any illusions about me becoming Korean. I’m still an American boy at heart – and butt.